My dear taste buds, may I introduce you to this vegan creamy tomato pasta? Trust me when I say this scrumptious, dreamy-creamy pasta dish will become your best friend!
A delicious tomato sauce enhanced with a velvety cream, coating every piece of pasta, with every bite you take. And it’s 100% dairy-free!
Ingredients
- pasta (any you like)
- fresh tomatoes (or tinned)
- dairy-free cream or coconut milk
- tomato paste
- vegetable stock (I use my homemade stock paste)
- onion & garlic
- fresh & dried herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary and thyme)
- salt & pepper to taste
(see recipe card for quantities)
Pasta: It really doesn’t matter what kind of pasta you choose. Whether it’s gluten-free or regular, spirals, penne or spaghetti, the choice is yours.
Tomatoes: For the food enthusiast, choose fresh tomatoes that are ideally mature and ripe (a little soft and dark red). They have the most flavour! Otherwise, tinned tomatoes work just fine, too.
Cream: I prefer using my homemade cashew cream or coconut milk because I find them more natural than the processed, dairy-free creams you can buy in the supermarkets.
But I leave this up to you. Whether you use oat or soy cream is your choice.
Herbs: The herbs are key to this recipe. However, it doesn’t matter all too much whether you use fresh or dried herbs—both taste amazing. Just make sure the dried herbs aren’t too old and still have enough flavour.
I always like to use fresh basil for garnish as it looks so pretty with the red of the tomato sauce and, obviously, for the taste.
Equipment
You will need some sort of a blender for this vegan creamy tomato pasta. I like using a stick or hand-held blender since you don’t have to transfer the sauce to a blender to blend. You can do it straight in the saucepan.
Instructions
Step 1. Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and cut the tomatoes into cubes or chunks. The size doesn’t matter as you’re going to blend it all at the end anyway.
Step 2. Heat two tablespoons of virgin olive oil in a saucepan. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic and tomatoes (if using fresh ones) and fry over medium heat until the onion turns translucent (about 3-4 minutes).
Step 3. Add the herbs, salt/vegetable stock (whichever you prefer for seasoning), tomato paste and tinned tomatoes (if using instead of fresh tomatoes).
Bring to a simmer before lowering the heat a little bit. Keep simmering, with the lid on, for about 10 minutes. If too much liquid evaporates, add a little water or a bit of the cream.
Meanwhile start cooking the pasta.
Step 4. Take the sauce off the heat and turn off the hot plate. Blend the tomato sauce with a stick blender (or a blender of choice) until smooth and creamy. Add the cream and stir it through.
Step 5. Drain and rinse the pasta once cooked and add to the saucepan. Coat the pasta with the sauce making sure it's covered well. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
Step 6. Serve your vegan creamy tomato pasta hot and garnish with fresh basil and maybe some vegan Parmesan. I love adding my homemade Parmesan (without yeast flakes) and fresh cherry tomatoes cut in half!
Substitutions
Gluten-free: Simply swap regular pasta with your choice of gluten-free pasta. Or you can make zoodles (zucchini noodles)!
Cream: I’m using my homemade cashew cream in this recipe but please feel free to use coconut, oat or soy cream instead. Coconut will add a bit of a coconutty flavour but I don’t think it’s too overpowering.
Herbs: Of course, you can use different herbs as well if you don’t like the ones in the recipe.
Storage
Leftovers can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for about 5 days. The pasta will soak up a bit of the sauce so when you reheat this meal, you may need to add some more cream or a little water.
In the freezer (and an airtight container), the pasta keeps for 6 months.
📖 Recipe
Equipment
- 1 stick blender or a food processor or blender will work, too
Ingredients
- 300-400 g pasta of your choice
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3-4 tomatoes ripe, mature, see notes for substitution
- ½ tsp dried oregano, thyme and rosemary each
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp vegetable stock paste or 1-2 tsp instant stock or ½ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp vegan cream or more as needed
- 15 cherry tomatoes cut in half, optional
- fresh basil and vegan parmesan to garnish, optional
Instructions
- Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and cut the tomatoes into cubes or chunks.
- Heat olive oil in a saucepan. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic and tomatoes and fry over medium heat until the onion turns translucent (about 3-4 minutes).
- Add the herbs, salt/vegetable stock (whichever you prefer for seasoning) and tomato paste. If using tinned tomatoes, add them now. Bring to a simmer before lowering the heat a little bit. Keep simmering, with the lid on, for about 10 minutes.Meanwhile, start cooking the pasta.
- Blend the tomato sauce with a stick blender (or a blender of choice) until smooth and creamy. Add the cream and stir it through.
- Drain and rinse the pasta once cooked and add to the saucepan. Coat the pasta with the sauce making sure it's covered well. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve hot and garnish with fresh basil and maybe some vegan Parmesan. I love adding some fresh cherry tomatoes, too.
